First off, wow, I'm really lousy at posting to a blog. But I'll make up for that right now.

We've had a lot of requests for jazz and pop titles this summer, and a lot of questions to go with it. The thing I'm asked most often is, "Can you play any song I want?" The answer is -- almost. I know that's not the exuberant "yes" that you were hoping for (but considering many other groups would say "no" I feel pretty darn good about what we can do for you). Let me tell you how pop music and string quartets work.

Music not published: String musicians play off sheet music. As much as we'd like to just sit down and improvise any song called out to us at an event, we really can't (except Steve, who will happily demonstrate for you that he can play anything off the top of his head). But we can play any pop sheet music put in front of us. Here's where the real problem lies. Pop music is almost never published for string quartets. There are some out there, but they're not always good, or reliably authentic to the original song. Some sold arrangements just plain sound bad and it's hard to believe they're being sold on big sites. Also, certain large publishing companies hold the copyright and publishing reins very tightly on pop songs. It doesn't matter how much WE the string musicians want to play those songs, or how nice of an arrangement we might have, THEY have often decided we don't need that music. Some arrangers I know have been told something like this: "We already have that for solo instrument, or band, or [insert group that's not a string quartet here]. We don't need to publish another version of it and no, you can't sell your version of it either because we hold the copyrights." So, in short, we can't buy sheet music for that great song you heard on the radio by Fun.

The solution is, we can write our own music., LOTS of it. We don't sell it, and it's (sadly, very sadly) not available to other groups to buy. We could (and would) get sued if we sold our own arrangements of pop songs. But, if we have enough notice, and you're agreeable to the arranging fee for the many hours of extra work we'll be putting into preparing for your wedding, we're happy to write out almost any song you want ...almost....

Some music just doesn't work in string quartets well: There are some songs that just don't work well for string quartet. Yes, I know you heard strings playing in the background while Dr. Rippidy-Rappidy was doing his best hip-hop wedding song. But that doesn't mean the MAIN part of the song -- the melody, the accompaniment, and the rhythm section -- can be appropriately realized in a string quartet. In this I ask that you trust our judgement. We'll be honest with you, and if your song won't work well in a string quartet (because it will sound strange, incomplete, or just plain bad) we'll work with you to find something by the same artist or another favorite of yours that we can write out. Sometimes that pop song you love the most might be better if it is played as your grand march, or your first dance. Please don't rule hiring us as a quartet out if we decide we shouldn't write out that one song you love so much... We don't want to play something at your wedding that we know will sound terrible, and I'm sure you don't want that either! There are many, many other fantastic pop songs out there to explore and that we can write. I once had a groom decide to not hire us because I told him we couldn't play the old-school rap song he wanted. Give us a shot because, I've got to tell you, we're good at what we do, and have a darn good time playing those crazing pop songs. :D

"I heard the [---] string quartet play this song, so get the sheet music." Just like I can't sell the music that I arrange and write for my group, other groups you hear online who have a great pop arrangement can't sell their music to us either. It's all very unfortunate. There's a huge number of FANTASTIC songs out there played by string quartets that will never be published or allowed to be sold. But we'll do what we can to rewrite what you heard.

"You don't have to write out music or buy it because I bought it for you" We know you're trying to help us when you hand us a freebie piano score you found online somewhere, but that doesn't mean we can play it in a string quartet. Those piano scores don't have parts for each musician, and usually the notes a violin would play are too low in those piano scores. The notes that the cello would play are usually written on the piano score WAY below my lowest string, so I can't play them. Often the freebie piano scores are full of errors too, and you don't want us to play those do you? The old adage of You Get What You Pay For is usually very true when it comes hiring musicians, and also to paying for a quality arrangement. A free piano score usually results in our not being able to use it, so no music at all. Invest in our arranging fees, or choose from our current selections for the best sounding rendition of a pop song in string quartet. It's not easy making a pop song sound good in a string quartet (the "cheese factor" can be pretty high), but with our composing and arranging skills, and our experience performing pop and jazz, we can make it sound great! It's worth the investment to do it right.

Does that help? I hope so! So many of you had had questions about pop music this year I thought it was worth talking about. We're looking forward to seeing so many of you this summer. I have LOTS of song writing to do...tons and tons, and not just for my string quartet. So, off I go to finish our exciting version of "Viva La Vida" that, I must say, is really exciting and fun!

Lots of inquiries are coming in for spring and summer of 2013! We have plenty of openings and I'm going to work on updating the calendar again now that I have Weebly and Google playing nice together again.

If your wedding is this winter or early spring we have tons of availability. However, we're only available for indoor weddings between now and May. Weddings this fall bring the addition of a new vocalist -- well, not new to me. Kim Albrecht will be joining us for an October wedding and singing for the Catholic service. She's an experienced singer at St. Bernard's parish in Appleton and is really excited to work with us for Catholic weddings.

Summer of 2012 is in full swing and weddings with Quartette Affetuoso are happening! While we get ready for weddings, meet with brides to pick music, and continue to take new calls for this fall and beyond I don't remember to visit my own site and leave blog posts. I guess I'm not a very good blogger.

Business blogs have always mystified me – I'm not sure what I should tell you. I could tell you about the different venues we play at and what they look like, or the different officials that do the ceremonies and if I think they're good or not. Would this be useful to some of you? Should I tell you about florists amazing arrangements? Or by the time you're here looking for music have you already gotten most of your other wedding needs in line? I would love your feedback! It would really help me know what sorts of things you would find most helpful in this blog.

I know that many people have been asking for more sound samples, and particularly of the flute ensembles we offer. I don't know when we will have those available. Getting time to record has been difficult however it is on our list of things to do. I'm always happy to share links with you of examples on YouTube just so you know what different ensembles sound like.

In the last week I've have no less than eight inquiries for our services, all for 2011. I've also had three new bookings in the last week. I love it! We have plenty of dates still available in spring, summer and fall of 2011. The web calendar isn't 100% updated since I've been out of state on vacation for a week, but check back tomorrow. Keep those 2011 calls coming!

No, it's not true -- you don't have to book live music a year or two out. I get frustrated when I hear that another group has told a bride, "You know, you should really look for string players sooner." Ack! That kind of response just isn't accurate or necessary! If we can't play for you, I'll usually help point brides in the direction of other musicians until someone available can be found. There's always someone available to play so don't give up on your quest. We are typically doing wedding bookings 6-9 months, or sometimes a year in advance, and that's just fine. I've booked a wedding in as little as TWO DAYS in advance -- no problem. We made it happen! Although I do enjoy having a little more time than that typically. I played that wedding, hopped in the car and drove about 5 blocks, then played a second wedding PLUS their dinner. What an exciting and fun day that was! Our record day was three weddings, a cocktail hour, AND dinner. I was indescribably tired at the end of that particular day.

We really pride ourselves on having so many options to fit just about every budget, and being fun to work with. It's true you can't get a professional string quartet for $150 or less, but you can have a fantastic soloist, or a duet for just a little more. And we have many other options to fit all budgets. So, don't think, "Oh, I could never have live string music at my wedding... that's for people with a bigger budget than me, or for a fancier wedding." We've played at all sorts of weddings -- formal, casual, backyard -- and have music to fit them all. My quartet has so many choices in ensembles, instruments and type of music that I really believe we're the most flexible and adapting group in the Valley. But then, I'm biased a little bit. :D I really hope my email inbox keeps hopping with your requests and questions and that some of you will work with us this year. I love working with new people.

Well, the new and improved website is off and running. There are a couple things left to do, but even the music player is working now, thanks to the help of a new friend. Today was the first day I received a request for a price quote using the new form! I broke out in a huge smile when I saw that form in my email. I was so very pleased to see proof that the new site is out there, being found and most importantly, being used in the way I intended. It's been a while since the "Request a Quote" feature worked on the site, and it took moving it to a new host and completely rebuilding it (without Frontpage extensions) to get it working again. Thank goodness for Weebly!

Well, all that's left to help me make my final decision to jump over to Weebly is the music player. I found html code to embed for a music player I like better than theirs but I'm not tech savvy enough to make it happen. Perhaps one of my web page designing friends know what to do. But for now I'm really satisfied with the way things are looking. We need some new photos for the header, and I'm still trying to decide how to communicate privately with quartet musicians. But all in all, Weebly is looking great.

In other news, a wedding event coordinator I've never heard of before contacted me, looking to use our quartet as one of their main referrals to brides who want string music. THey invited me to play in a bridal show with them, however it's the same day as a symphony concert most of my group plays in. They also invited me to give them some discount coupons for that bridal event. I think I'm going to do it, and when I get more information from them on the event I'll post it here (even though I don't think general bridal traffic is finding this site yet). It would mean $50-100 off a quartet booking. I haven't decided how much yet. It will be nice to work with new people and expand the business. I have lots of dates to fill in 2011!

I'm testing out Weebly to see if this will work better than my current web host. It's certainly a lot easier to maintain the website. I only have a few more details to figure out until I'm fully satisfied Weebly will work for me. And then I'll transfer the domain over. I can't believe they'll host MY domain name on their server for free. It's kind of crazy. And really easy to use. It will be a good move for the quartet as it will save me a lot of time and hassle managing the website calendar. Thank God the request quotes will be working again. Hard to believe I've had problems for almost a year.... I guess that's what happens when you're stubborn and decide you're going to find a solution yourself and for free. It takes a little longer. Oh, I'm also impressed at how Weebly reformats the website for those who are viewing on their smart phone. I checked it out on mine and text is readable, links work, and even the slide show ran! Pretty amazing. I said it was free right? Amazing. Welcome 2011, and hopefully good changes for Quartette Affetuoso and our poor broken website.

Heather Anderson

Heather is the manager, librarian, webmaster, cellist and pianist in Quartette Affetuoso. She teaches and works out of her Appleton home with her two mischievous cats, Mouse and Kozmo, to keep her company.